Disclaimer: I did not create the world of World of Warcraft, I only play in it. The character names used here belong to their players.
The turquois scales gleamed in the muddy late afternoon sun, but the slight female troll kept rubbing the raptor with the soft cloth. The raptor watched her with it's intelligent red eyes, chirring softly and clicking it's claws on the hard-packed Barrens soil. His tail gently swayed, bumping the troll, who paused to reach forward and stroke the long face.
"You keep rubbin' dat raptor, he's not gunna have any scales left! What be botherin' you, Zor?"
"Nuffin." She scowled at him, standing there smiling, his Tunic, marking him as part of Something Wicked, dusty with the red Barrens dirt. Glowering at Sgian, she gave a last rub to the shining neck scales before lifting the raptor's bridle and starting to rub on the metal on it. The raptor gave a soft hissing croon.
"Don' believe you. You're not da cleanin type, but you been groomin' that raptor all day." The jovial troll's face went quiet and serious. "This is on 'count o' him, i'n't it?"
"Don' ken what you're talkin 'bout." But she rubbed harder at the medallion at the bridle's cheek. Her friend crouched down, peering up into her face.
"Ain't no shame in missin' him," he started. She hurled the bridle at him, her raptor startling and shrieking.
"I don' miss him! Jus go 'way, Sgian! I don' need nobody pryin into my life, tryin ta tell me what I be feelin or should be feelin. I jus feel like cleanin' tack, iffen that be fine wit you!"
Sgian raised his hands in surrender, tossing the bridle back. "Iffen that be how you be wantin' things, girlie." He rose and started walking towards the inn. "But I ken that look. you're hurtin. If you decide you wan' talk, I be around." He looked back over his shoulder. "He made his choice, Zorali. It don' reflect badly on you."
But she just stared at and rubbed on the saddle. Sgian walked away with a sigh, leaving her to her polishing. Her raptor hissed, shifting his weight, then bumping her shoulder with his smooth nose. He chirred softly, snaking his head slowly in front of her, nudging her in the chest. She smiled, then patted the scaley forehead, and rose. The saddle hefted easily, and she settled it on the raptor's back, patting his smooth shoulder before cinching it toght. He dropped his head into the offered bridle, then nudged her toward his side, chirping.
"No, hon. We not huntin. I need ta think." She swung up onto his back and turned his head to the northern mountain, riding past the gate guards without a word. The sun was low, the dusty sky stained a muddy orange. A few clouds drifted accross the darkening sky. Beneath her, the raptor jolted along at his fast striding gait, his head occasionally darting to eye a wandering gazelle.
She turned him up onto the rocky mountainside, feeling muscles straining up the face. Above her, to the right, Zorali saw the Shrine, and she carefully guided the raptor to it. She slid to the ground, stepping up to the stones and running her fingers over the smooth, warm surface. She settled down, leaning against the sacred stones, staring up at the darkening sky and emerging stars.
"You chose a good place ta be burried, whoe'er you were. Mebbie I'll ask for a place like this when I die. Someplace where da sun an moon can allways be seen, an da hawks fly o'er. You don mind iffen I talk ta you an sit here, do you?" She closed her eyes and listened to the breeze play through the grass and rattle the hangings on the stones. Idly she pulled some leather and cloth from her pack, twisting it between her fingers. "How'd you fall, iffen you don' mind me wonderin? You fall to da Alliance? Or did you have a friend turn on you? You die o' wounds from battle or did your heart break?" She sighed softly, digging in her pack for a shiny stone and a feather she had found, plaiting them into the cloth and leather. "Mebbie I'll jus stay here wit' you. My guild be scattered to da winds, an Sgian don' need me. An that orc... Well, I put my trust in 'im an he be gone now... He ain't commin' back. I'm not so young that I don' recognize those signs. But this time, this time he cursed me for my allegiance." She shook her head. "I'm no turncoat. An I'm no dishonorable l'il child, neidder. I live da way Thorkarr taught me, an to da pits wit' that damned orc if he thinks Thorkarr raised me wrong. I'm not gunna abandon my people jus' 'cause that fool be willin to damn all o' us as cowards for da actions of a few; there be good here, an I ken that, e'en with da new generation.
"Let 'im side with those child killers an sneak attackin' cowards. I stay on this side, with my friends; with Nik, an Bull, an Sgian. I stay here, where I not be mocked for my ideals, for my honour." She looked down at her hands, sighing heavily through her nose. "He's gone where I won' try to follow no more. Mebbie that was what he wanted all 'long. I dunno..." Her raptor settled down beside her, head resting on her leg, watching her with his red eyes.
"I just don' ken what to do wit' myself now. Da Wicked, they let me tag along on account o' Sgian, but they don' need me. Umed's gone 'way on some quest for da Deaders. Whump, well, he either be dead or off doin' Tauren tings somewhere. That damn orc was da only one who wasn' just bein nice no more, an then he pulls this... I don' ken what I should do, where I should go. Mebbie I should just stay here, tend your shrine, leave da world an all da shit it been hurlin at me; Just forget all of what been goin on." The raptor chirred. The wind fell quiet.
"Iffen he was tryin' to get rid o' me, he coulda just told me... He didn' hafta go cursing me, da side o' this war that I be on. I fight here 'cause it be what I ken, but da new generations, they be so different... I had hoped that he'd be there beside me to face it all. Wasn't meant to be, I guess." She stood, sliding her hands softly over the stones again.
"Thanks, friend, for listening to this trolly." She tied the plait to the stones, leaving the feather to flutter in the breeze, the stone glistening in the moonlight. "I'll hafta come back some mornin, mebbie listen to you, eh?"